One Little Spark

Chapter One

Aiden Wolfe shrugged the heavy oxygen tank off his back and stowed it on the rig. Then he grabbed the bottle of water his best friend, Jory Kincaid, handed him, and collapsed onto the bumper of the fire engine. He took a long drink.

“Third random fire this month,” Jory commented.

Aiden took another long swallow before he answered, “Not so random.”

“No. Arson for sure on this one. Probably the other two as well.”

“Yeah. Whoever is doing this is getting better at setting fires.” Aiden gestured with his now-empty water bottle toward the smoldering ruins of an abandoned warehouse. “He or she made sure this was going to burn all the way to the ground. Considering how dry it’s been, we’re damn lucky it wasn’t windy. The grass and trees around the warehouse could have easily gone up.”

“There’s Phoenix now.” Jory gestured to the tall man walking toward them. “Phoenix,” he said by way of a greeting.

The detective came to a stop beside the fire truck. “Jory, Aiden. How you two doin’?”

“A little toasty, but okay,” Aiden replied. “You?”

Phoenix gave him a small nod. “What do you think?” he asked, pointing to the smoldering ruin.

“Talk to Fire Chief Vickers for the official word, but it’s arson. Same as the other two. There’s definitely a firebug in town.”

Phoenix agreed. “Yes, he’s been operating for a while now.”

“What do you mean?” Jory cocked his head.

“Before now, there’ve been small things set on fire at the edge of town, like abandoned cars, piles of garbage, even someone’s unused doghouse. Luckily, they burnt out quickly on their own, and we got there to find a pile of ash. But this is the first time he’s hit a building as far as we know.” Phoenix stared at the ruined warehouse.

“Anybody have any ideas on who it is?” Aiden asked.

“Officially, I cannot comment.” But then he shook his head. “Not a clue.”

Aiden wiped his face. “This won’t be his last fire. He’s escalating. You need to find him before he burns down something with someone in it.”

“Yeah, that’s a real fear.” Phoenix glanced at his phone screen and then looked up. The fire chief was standing on the other side of the street. He waved. “Gotta go. I’ll catch up with you two later.”

“Good luck, Phoenix,” Jory called.

“He’s gonna need it.” Aiden would not want to be in Phoenix’s shoes right now. “The chief is gonna ream his ass over why the cops haven’t found this guy yet.”

“Yup. Not Phoenix’s fault, though. Not much to go on when the firebug picks random, abandoned shit and lights it up in the middle of the night. No one around to see anything. Phoenix is a great detective, but there’s not much to detect.”

“Yeah. Glad I’m a firefighter instead of a cop.” Aiden shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to have to track this guy.”

The sun was just crowning the tops of the trees. Exhausted and hungry, all Aiden wanted was to go home, shower, and then sleep for the next fifteen hours, but he couldn’t. Too much to do.

“Are you coming to the football game later?” Jory asked.

Aiden ran a hand over his face and let out a long sigh. “Probably not. I gotta finish laying the bathroom floor today.”

“Dude, you’re working too hard on the house. You need to get out more. Come watch the game. Phoenix is playing as a sub for his brother since Falcon broke his arm.”

“Shit. Phoenix is going up against Billy Winston? That would be good to see. Those two have hated each other since high school.”

“So come out and see it. We’ll go for beers afterwards. I have to help my mom set up the concession stand before the game, but then I can go. God, I sound like I am in high school.”

Aiden snorted. “You wish. No such luck, my friend. You’re a thirty-two-year-old firefighter who is still single and has bills to pay. If homework was our only stressor, life would be good.”

Jory leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Ain’t that the truth. Life was sure simpler back then.”

Aiden glanced at his best friend. “What’s up?”

“Hazel.”

The woman’s name struck fear in Aiden’s heart. Hazel Kincaid was Jory’s little sister and the hottest thing in Cherry Valley, at least as far as Aiden was concerned. She was also off-limits. Waaay off-limits.

Aiden’s heartbeat ticked up a bit. “What’s wrong with Hazel? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She’s just a big pain in my ass.” Jory sighed.

He frowned. “What’s she done this time?”

“She wants to leave Cherry Valley and move to New York City or Philadelphia or some thriving metropolis.” Jory ran his hands over his face.

Aiden’s stomach plummeted to his boots. It was bad enough that she was off-limits. He tried his best not to let his feelings show, but the thought of her leaving town was…wrong. She couldn’t leave town. Then he’d never see her or run into her accidentally or not so accidentally. He reached for another water bottle so Jory wouldn’t notice how upset he was.

“What did she say?”

Jory stood up. “Just that. She’s tired of me interfering in her life and she wants to leave and move to a big city.”

“You guys were fighting.” That made more sense. Aiden’s heart rate slowed to a more normal rhythm. Hazel always said things off the cuff when she and Jory were arguing. She didn’t really want to leave. She just wanted Jory to back off a bit. Didn’t she ?

“What was the fight about?”

Jory kicked a loose stone. “She’s working a serious amount of overtime, both with extra ER shifts at the hospital and with Doc Lawrence. She said she was saving to get her own place, but it’s not necessary. She can live in the basement like I did. It’s why I moved out. To give her some space of her own. I help Mom with the mortgage so she and Hazel can live there comfortably.”

“Jor, man, Hazel is twenty-eight. She has a right to have her own place.”

Jory growled, “Now you sound like her.”

Aiden held up his hands. This was always a sore subject with his best friend. “I know you want to take care of your mom and Hazel, but your baby sister is entitled to her own life.”

Jory glared at him for a minute but then nodded. “I know it but…I just can’t seem to stop worrying. She was such a mess when Dad died. She and mom both. You weren’t here then, but I didn’t think either of them was gonna survive it. Mom retreated into herself, and Hazel, well, she just went wild, drinking and partying all the time. She quit school and went to work as a waitress at the diner in town. It took me almost two years to get Mom out of her shell and get Hazel calmed down again.”

“Yeah, but they’re both doing good now. Didn’t you tell me your mom’s seeing a therapist on a regular basis? She’s fine, brother. And the concession stand is a big hit. She’s doing a great job with it. I know she’s doing well over at the police station, too. Phoenix said she’s kicking ass over there, getting the guys to file all the reports correctly and do the right paperwork.”

Jory grinned. “Yeah, some of the guys have been complaining. It’s great. I know Mom’s enjoying it. I just…” His smile faltered.

“Hazel is doing fine, too.”

Jory snorted. “Hazel has always been, and will always be, a pain in my ass.” He shook his head. “Back then, if you would’ve seen her, you wouldn’t have thought she was the same person.”

Aiden felt the familiar wave of guilt wash over him. He hadn’t been here when his best friend needed him. He’d gone away to college and then worked in New York City for a few years before coming back home. He had missed all of the drama with Jory’s family, and Jor had never told him the truth about the seriousness of the situation. If he’d known, he would have… Would have what? Come home? He’d like to say yes, but the truth was, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference. It wasn’t until his own mother died two years ago that everything changed for Aiden. Gone was the ambition to be the king of Wall Street. He just wanted to be home with family and good friends.

“Look, I know it’s hard. You’ve done a great job looking after your mom and Hazel, but there comes a time when they need to look after themselves.” He clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Hazel turned her life around. She went to nursing school and got a great job. She’s killing it down at the hospital. Everyone says so. She was born to be an ER nurse. She needs her own space. You know what you felt like living in the basement. You hated it.”

Jory gave a reluctant nod, then glanced at Aiden with a smirk. “Killing it down at the hospital? Nice one.”

Aiden grinned.

“Just don’t say that too loud. Rumor has it there’s been some untimely deaths of elderly people of late.”

“Seriously? Someone is bumping off old people?”

Jory shrugged. “I don’t know any details, but that’s what I heard. Phoenix is probably on that investigation, too.”

“Shit, I am so glad I am not him.” Aiden finished his water. “Anyway, man, give Hazel a break. I’m sure she’s grateful that you looked after her in the past, but now she needs to do it for herself. If you push her, she might leave town and that would be…worse,” he finished lamely. It would be a nightmare, but he wasn’t going there.

To the rest of the world, Jory Kincaid was this easy-going, laid-back guy, but Aiden knew the truth. He was full of anxiety. His father’s death when they were nineteen had rocked Jory’s world so hard, he was still struggling to recover. It was something Aiden understood in spades. He lost his dad a few years before that, but he’d had his mom as his rock. She’d gotten him through. He didn’t know what he would have done if it weren’t for her, and now that she was gone, he felt lost. That’s why he had come home. He needed to be grounded again.

“Are you two finished gossiping back here?” their fire company captain, John Hastings demanded. “If so, we still have a scene to clean up and the guys could use your help.” Fists propped on his hips, he glared at them.

“Yes, sir,” they both said and moved around the side of the truck to help the others. Aiden let out a long breath. He’d have to keep working on Jory to get him to back off of Hazel, but he’d made progress. His friend needed a life so he could stop worrying about everyone else’s. And Aiden needed to get over the one woman he couldn’t have.